this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2024
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I keep getting cheques in the mail from Medicare addressed to doctors who charged an out of pocket fee. The letter is addressed to me, the cheque isnt if that makes sense. This has only just started, but makes 0 sense that Im getting cheques addressed to the doctor right? Like, it aint my job to deliver shit to the doctor after they charged an out of pocket.
Is this some weird new thing Medicare are doing? I keep throwing them in the bin because its not addressed to me.
Not a scam, actually a relic from the origins of Medicare - Pay Doctor Via Claimant (PDVC). See Medicare asking one million patients to hand-deliver cheques to pay doctors - 2017 article.
Ridiculous that it still exists. If you bin it the specialist/Dr just has to wait 90 days to get directly paid by Medicare
then thats what they have to do. Cozzi livs. I charge a fee for delivery, aint doing that shit for free with diesel prices being what they are.
Well maybe it'll incentivise the practice to get with the times. Although I guess that once they to that it means patients will need to pay in full up front.
I think most practices still using PDVC do so to cater to patients who would struggle to front up the cash for the full amount (even just for the 24 hrs or whatever it takes before they get reimbursed) which is why I've only heard of it being used these days for more expensive treatments with higher Medicare rebate amounts.
If they can wear the 90 day delay in order to support these patients then good on them.
Medicare pays by cheque if the doctor provides you credit for the rebate, as a fraud control mechanism.
Medicare only allows electronic payments if the account is fully paid upfront (and then rebate claimed), or bulk billed.
So what, I'm expected to go out of my way to deliver it cause medicare cant figure out a better fraud system? Yeah... thats gonna be a no from me.
Some of the trouble is that paying upfront does provide confirmation that you did visit the doctor and paid for them.
Whereas an IOU for the rebate doesn't necessarily provide the same confirmation that a patient received the services provided.
I do think PDVC could be improved though with a threshold amount, rather than being based upon the absolutes of an account being paid / unpaid. A $100 payment made already on an account is probably enough of the patient's money to indicate that they did receive the service.